The more important lesson to learn relates to the world's single most pessimistic country: Singapore.
Using our usual conceptions of what makes you happy, Singaporeans should be near the top of the optimist list. For example, by any measure, they are very rich, have long life expectancies, and can drink Coke and watch re-runs of Baywatch all day long.
I submit the reason they are so miserable is that they live in the heart of the new form of authoritarian capitalism, a version 2.0 of capitalism that is divorced from democracy and proving more powerful than our old-fashioned social democratic version. Full story
